Badminton, Arctic Open Super 500: Indian challenge ends in Finland

Lakshya Sen’s return to the badminton tour ended in the Round of 16 at the Arctic Open Super 500 in Vantaa, Finland after a tight three-set loss to Chinese Taipei’s Chou Tien Chen on Thursday.

There were seven matches, across categories, that featured Indians. However, none managed to make it to their respective quarter-finals.

In their first meeting since the quarter-final of the 2024 Paris Olympic Games, Sen managed to take the first game but after being given a scare. The Indian shuttler had taken a 13-7 lead, only for Chou to claw back into the game and level proceedings at 15-15.

The Chinese Taipei player had even taken a 19-17 lead, but Sen managed to win four points on the trot to secure the first game 21-19.

Sen then raced to a 6-2 and later 9-5 lead in the second only for Chou to find a way back into the game. At 13-13, the seventh seed from Chinese Taipei took a lead that he would not relinquish, eventually winning the game 21-18 to send the match into the decider.

Riding on the momentum, Chou raced to a 10-2 lead and held on to secure the match with a 19-21, 21-18, 21-15 win.

In the other men’s singles fixture, qualifier Kiran George...

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